Odyssey
by YouSentMeFlying
Summary: With Eli on a six month house arrest, he finds an interesting way to pass the time.


**O_O so this was mainly a project to cure writer's block. It didn't help at all, but at least it gives me a new one shot to post. **

_We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone._

The distant sound of police sirens wailed through the wind – Eli's breathing quickened, and the heels of his biker boots pounded against the cement. He ran, and ran, and ran; he pushed his slender legs harder and faster, his arms flying violently at his sides in hasty movements. Despite his utter light-headedness, he kept running like his life depended on it – because it did.

The shadows of bushes and trees blurred past him; he didn't dare to stop for one second. If he didn't get out of this, he would be getting thrown in jail without any sign of hesitation. After having three strikes on his record for the same offence, there's no way he would get off with a simple slap on the wrist.

_He didn't look back._

xxx

Eli observed the black beeping bracelet around his ankle; a screw driver and twist tie were scrunched in his left hand. During his court date, he'd found out there was evidence of him fleeing the scene of a robbery from a security camera which was set up at Goodwill across the street. If he had known Big Brother was at some charity case center, he would have picked up his booze and crackers from a different store. Since he was caught, though, he was forced to stay on house arrest for an entire six months. In Eli's opinion, that was a little overboard. It was better than being put into jail, but six months under surveillance for stealing a few bottles of Vodka and food was too much. For all the court knew, his parents might not have fed him at home and it forced him into shoplifting. But apparently, stealing alcohol underage was a bigger offence than if you're over the drinking age.

He fumbled the screwdriver under the strap of the bracelet. It was only his second day in this thing, but he already couldn't wait to get it off – he'd learned a few tricks from one of his friends at school, except it was a different model to comparison.

The screwdriver slipped, scrapping the palm of his hand at the same time as he cried out a handful of obscenities. "Dammit. Mom! Mom!"

As if on cue, CeCe Goldsworthy, Eli's middle-aged mother, came rushing through the door in a panic. Knowing her son, she'd figured he set off a bomb while trying to get off his bracelet. "Something wrong?"

"Yes! Dammit! A Band-Aid! I need a Band-Aid!" he groaned, cupping his left hand over the other to let the screwdriver plummet to the floor with a clank. The cut wasn't very deep, but Eli could hardly tolerate any type of pain at all. He would normally win his fistfights in fear of getting the shit beat out of him, but he would never admit that to anyone. "Fuck!"

"Watch the language!" CeCe argued. She hated Eli using any type of foal verbal shrieks in her house. She didn't care if he did it at school, or out in the front yard, but she couldn't stand hearing any curse words being thrown around as if they were free vowels. "There's a box in the drawer under the window. And don't you dare think you're going to try to get that thing off." She gestured toward the square box strapped around Eli's ankle.

CeCe didn't know what to do with him anymore – he was always acting out and getting into all sorts of trouble with kids from school that she's never even met before. She could only hope this house arrest would knock some sense into him.

Eli rolled his eyes at his mother and stretched his arm over near the dresser drawer, his eyes locking on a pair of binoculars sitting on the windowsill. "What is this?"

"Binoculars…" she pointed out.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with these?"

"Have you ever heard of bird watching?"

Eli scoffed. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

xxx

Heavy rock music blasted from the speakers on the flat screen that sat at the far wall. Adam and Eli were hunched together at the end of Eli's bed, Wii controllers in their hands as they shouted at the TV. They were playing Mario Kart Wii together, Eli's mind wandering every once in a while. He's been locked up in this room for over a week now, and he was slowly driving himself insane. If he could tolerate his parents, maybe he would spend his arrest downstairs to interact more often, but he's hardly spoken to them since he's been home.

Eli and his mom used to be so close, until he started hanging around the wrong crowd at school – Fitz, KC, Reese and this girl named Bianca weren't exactly the best-behaved kids at school. Fitz was the one who'd been pressuring Eli into stealing the alcohol for him since he was too much of a pussy to do it himself. After the "misunderstanding" the two boys had over a year ago, Fitz still needed Eli to prove he was on his side, but he's been with the group for long enough now and Eli thought it was time to be cut some slack. Every time he's gotten caught by the police, it was always to impress Fitz and the rest of his friends just so Eli wouldn't get his ass beat in front of the entire school.

They weren't exactly a gang, but they wouldn't let him leave the group unless he wanted to be tortured for the rest of his high school and University life. Eli sometimes caught Fitz and Bianca – the love birds of the five – following him around while he was out doing important errands. He couldn't wait to see what they all would say after Eli could go back to school again.

"_Luigi number one!" _ The TV sounded, along with Adam screeching happily beside Eli.

"Luigi wins! In your face, Mario!"

"Mama Mia," Eli groaned, and flipped off the Wii console – he was tired of getting beat by Adam whenever they would play any type of video game. He was tired of this game, tired of Wii; tired of staring at these fucking walls… he was tired of everything. "How did you get so good at this?"

Adam shrugged his shoulders heavily and fell back onto the bed to look up at the ceiling. He's been coming over to visit Eli every day after school this week, and he would always cream his best friend at this game. Eli used to be the best player around until Adam looked up tutorials and cheats online without anyone knowing it; gotta love the internet. "So dude, why do you have a set of binoculars? What, are you bird watching or something?" he joked with a small laugh.

"Yeah, man." Eli jumped up off of the bed and opened the curtains, grabbing the binoculars from his nightstand. "I've got my eye on two female birds right now. One with light feathers, and another with a tanner set. Particularly large breasts." He smirked to himself, hearing Adam shuffle on the bed before he was at his side, peering out the window.

When you use the word "breast" in front of Adam, expect him to pounce straightaway; no woman was safe if she had a good sized rack on her person. Adam would do anything to strip search for those weapons, please. _Turn around with your shirt up. If you have nothing to hide, there's nothing for you to be afraid of._

"See, there's these chick neighbours who go to our school, right? Maybe you've heard of them. Imogen Moreno and Clare Edwards."

"Clare's got _fine _written all over her."

"…Dude. Focus." Eli rolled his eyes, gazing out the binoculars to look around the back where the pool was. The girls usually went for a swim after dinner together; there's nothing wrong with Eli enjoying a little free show every day. "So these two girls were best friends at one time. Well, they still are."

Adam furrowed his eyebrows together curiously. "You're confusing me now."

"They argue a lot. They swim a lot. Swimming equals tight bikinis."

"Which equals arguing in their tight bikinis?"

"Precisely." Eli sneered. "It's almost time for them to come out for their swim. There's an extra pair of these cheepass things under the bed, I think." He hesitated to glance back at Adam who was already down on his hands and knees beside the bed, using his phone as a flashlight. "Don't touch the vacuum hose that's under there. You don't want to know."

Adam grumbled under his breath, slipping his arm under the bed until he finally found what he was looking for. "Man, that's gross." Adam has been made aware of guys doing some pretty fucked up shit, but that had to be the worst thing he's ever heard come out of Eli's mouth. And that was saying a lot considering Eli could get pretty descriptive and vulgar at times. "You need to get laid."

Eli let out a low laugh. "And I'm about to! Here comes my flock of birds now."

"Don't start without me!" Adam scurried to find his footing, tripping over cords and books a few times before he finally made it over to the window. He wouldn't miss something like this for the world – if only he had the nerve to ask one of these stunning girls on a date, but no one as beautiful as them would ever say yes to someone like him. A guy stuck in a stupid girl's body. How fucking attractive.

A quiet knock on the door caused the boys to spring up in surprise; CeCe stepped through the door carrying two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. "What are you boys up to? Doing some bird watching, are you?" she asked, her eyes flickering down to the pair of binoculars in Adam's hand, then out the window. She couldn't see past Eli's shoulder, where he was intentionally blocking the view of the ladies so she couldn't see what they were truly doing. "All this concentration must be making you hungry."

Adam's face lit up the second the sentence came out of her mouth. Jumping forward, he exclaimed "I'm starving!" and grabbed a sandwich from his favourite adult. "Thanks." He lightly pecked CeCe's cheek and looked down at the sandwich before he took a large bite from the corner of the bread. Strawberry jelly oozed down his chin, and the delicious peanut butter was already sticking to the roof of his mouth. Just the way he liked it.

"Adam, honey, you're dripping everywhere." CeCe giggled, reaching up to trace her thumb over the rim of Adam's bottom lip to capture the jelly before it stained the carpet. She licked her finger clean, moaning as she did this. "That tastes so good."

"Mom!" Eli complained, a little sidetracked. He wanted to stare at his pretty girls through a set of binoculars and CeCe always had to ruin this kind of thing for him. All he desired was to have a little fun once in his life, was that too much to ask for? "We're busy!"

CeCe walked out of the room without saying another word. She wondered what had happened to the two of them – she and Eli used to be so close, but now he snapped and argued with her whenever he had the chance. He was growing up, and he wasn't her little boy anymore, but if this was the way he would be acting she didn't know if she was okay with that.

Eli wanted to get away from Fitz and his guys so badly, but he always thought he couldn't handle them, couldn't stand up against them all. Four against one wasn't exactly a fair fight, and he knew they would take turns slaughtering him. But maybe it was time to face his fears and stand up to those assholes; Eli wasn't going to do any more of their dirty work and they would either be okay with that, or beat the shit out of him for betraying them. Hopefully it wasn't the latter.

"Dude, your mom is really hot for an older woman." Adam slipped in beside Eli again to pick up his set of binoculars and scope out the girls who were stripping down in their suits. "I would totally bang her."

Eli scoffed and shook his head. Sometimes he didn't know where Adam's brain was half of the time; all he cared about was girls and sex, when he couldn't even get a woman to cross paths with him. He would bet a hundred dollars that a prostitute wouldn't even get with Adam if he paid her with his University funds. "You're the one who needs to get laid in this scenario."

"I know…" Adam sighed. "Do you think –"

"—no, I don't think CeCe would ever fuck you. Get a new crush, will you?"

Across the yard, Imogen reached over to lift Clare's shirt up over her head, and threw the t-shirt in her best friends face playfully. It didn't seem like any fights were going to be brought out today, but them messing around might be a little more enjoyable for Adam and Eli.

They both knew this was wrong, but they couldn't help themselves. Their teenage hormones were spiraling out of control, and this was a whole lot cheaper than ordering a "movie" on Pay Per View. Besides, they might get to learn a little more about these women to score with them. That sounded completely ridiculous, but there was always a chance that they would go for them. Eli didn't mind which one he got with, though; Imogen had the better body and way prettier details, but Clare looked like she would be the better fuck. That's all Eli every really wanted in a relationship anyway, was being screwed every night until he couldn't bear to stand up anymore.

Clare positioned her arms above her head in a 'V' shape motion, lifting her feet off the pavement gracefully as she dived down into the warm water. Imogen followed suit, but jumping into the pool in more of a 'cannon ball' type fashion; her knees were brought up to her chest tightly and she splashed into the mass of water with a great force. Her hair flowed around her beautifully, and she lifted her head up to gasp for air, giggling softly.

"Peter Pan is on tonight," Adam remarked just before shoving the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth.

"I really don't care. It's for gays."

"Is not!" Adam spoke with his mouthful, the moist bread made a slapping sound against his gums.

"A singing boy wearing green tights is not a movie for straight teenagers, such as myself."

"Are you calling me gay?"

Eli lowered the binoculars to stare at Adam who had just finished swallowing the last bite of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. After everything Eli has witnessed from his best friend this afternoon, he really didn't know what to think of him. What kind of best friend would tell you he wanted to bang your mom? Unless he wanted to get the shit beat out of him, that was so wrong. Eli's never liked Peter Pan; even the book freaked him out a little.

In the only version he's watched, Peter Pan was way older than the little girl, Wendy, he fell in love with. If he wanted to get arrested, all he had to do was steal something just as simply as Eli had. But instead, he scared the hell out of this innocent little girl who didn't know which way was up, and which was down. Here in Toronto, telling a girl you want to show her "Neverland" meant you were a creepyass pedophile who clearly had no life. And what the hell was Tinkerbell thinking? She's a fucking fairy who falls in love with this dude in tights. Real classy. How would they even fuck? She was probably smaller than his dick anyway, so that relationship would never work out.

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying." He turned back to the window, where there was no sign of either of the girls. How could they disappear like that so quickly? They better not be done with their swim already; they were hardly in for five minutes. "Dammit, Adam!" Eli exclaimed. "We missed it!"

With that second line, the doorbell rang.


End file.
